Kisses and Boxing Gloves
by Alkaline Lady
Summary: When Kagome's feeling upset, depressed and confused a friend comes to help her out while Inu-Yasha looks on. Rated for swearing and for general angstyness.


Kisses and Boxing Gloves  
  
**Author's note: I don't own Inu-Yasha, and if I did I wouldn't be as evil as Rumiko Takahashi by not putting in so many cliffhangers and I'd at least give Kagome and Inu-Yasha some kind of vent for their frustration and mine and all those irritated Kagome/ Inu fans.   
Anyways, this is just a short, one chapter, one time shot. I just got so pissed off that Inu-Yasha and Kagome haven't even kissed yet, not seriously anyway. Grrrrrrr!  
I will list all of the characters in the IY series I want to die off in some ridiculous way or another because I hate them and I can: 3. Kouga *he irritates the hell outta me, the sexist pig* 2. Myoga the flea *just because a flea retainer is ridiculous, he can't even carry an ice cream cone and you expect him to be a retainer?* 1. *Lastly and mostly* Kikyo *she's just a bitch, and she's dead and even tho she's 2-D she still pisses me off.*   
  
  
******  
  
WHAM!  
Another frustration made it's way to the surface. Kagome had to fight back tears as she took the next blow, even if it was buffered by the head guard she was wearing it still made the throbbing in her head escalate.  
WHAM!   
Another hard blow to the forehead.  
"Stop resisting Kagome! C'mon! You know you want to!" her voice chirped in front of her.  
Her mouth guard muffled the sound as she tried to retort, then came the next senses stunning blow. Kagome felt her legs crumbled beneath her weight and didn't bother to cry out, just grunted as the headguard that protected the base of her neck hit the ground, jarring her head again.  
Inu-Yasha watched her take this abuse from the Goshinboku Tree, not sure whether or not he should really move to save her. After all she wasn't putting up much of a defense from her attacker, and she was padded after all.   
He sniffed the air again and felt his heart gripped. She was in pain, not so much physical as it was emotional.  
"Come ON Kagome! You have it in you! Just hit me! You know you want to! Come on!" the other girl said as she bounced from foot to foot.  
Kagome just lay on the ground and let out a soft moan. It killed him to see her like this. Even though the pads on her head were acting as a buffer to the other girl's blows her face was still getting pretty bruised up.   
"Kagome!" the other girl snapped and then stopped her bouncing, "If you don't get up I'm seriously gonna kick your ass."  
Inu-Yasha felt his temper flare. How dare that girl treat Kagome that way? What had Kagome ever done to her? Kagome brought a leg up, as if getting ready to try and get up, but then let it relax again as she gripped her face with another moan.  
"No wonder he makes fun of you! God Kagome!" the girl taunted.  
His ears pricked, who was she talking about.  
"You don't even defend yourself! You just let anyone walk all over you! You said that he chose that dirt bag over you, no wonder! I wouldn't want a milksop for a girlfriend if I was him, either!" the girl growled.  
He knew who she was talking about now. Him. She was talking about how he and Kikyo were in front of Kagome. Those few times had been accidents, all of them, and he hadn't chosen Kikyo over Kagome at all. He felt his temper flare as he remembered the term the girl had used for Kikyo, a dirt bag, huh? That was no way to talk about the deceased miko.  
"Hell, I don't think a DIKE would want to date you!" the horrible girl taunted even further.  
Inu-Yasha cracked his knuckles, wanting now to rip this girl apart.  
"Ungh...." Kagome grunted as she sat up huffing and panting.   
He could see the sweat pouring down her face, plastering her bangs into little bunches of sweat soaked hair. He could see it glistening as it ran down her pale, tired face and bruised arms, neck and even on her bare midriff. The outift she was wearing was more daring than usual.  
She wore skin tight black shorts, a skin tight black tank top that stopped just below her breasts, and black sneakers. Beyond that she wore red, a red head gaurd that protected her forehead, the back of her head and neck, and her cheek bones, a set of overly large red gloves that didn't even have seperate fingers to grip things, she also wore red elbow and knee pads. And in her mouth, what he could see of it was a white, transluscent mouth guard. Precautions he guessed, so that they wouldn't kill each other in this tournament.  
The other girl, the one who was beating Kagome to a pulp was dressed similiarly. The colors were different, blue and gold were hers and he couldn't see a bead of prespiration on her. She was dominating this tournament that he was sure Kagome would not come out the victor.  
He wondered vaguely why this girl had bothered to challenge Kagome at all. He'd emerged from the well in hopes to drag Kagome back to the Sengoku Jidai with him and he'd seen them emerge from Kagome's house wearing these strangely appealing outfits and come to this enormous blue mat where they'd begun the tournament after bowing to each other then lunging.  
The other girl had dominated the game quickly, knocking Kagome for a loop and landing her on her back more times than he could remember. He'd felt the urge to interfere, demand right then what was going on, and why this girl was trying to kill Kagome, but Kagome's scent had stopped him.  
He recognized it as the confused and anxious scent he'd smelled on her before she left. She'd been acting depressed and moody for the past week and he didn't know quite why, maybe this was her people's way.   
To eliminate the weak ones of a tribe or a group before they got the rest of the tribe in trouble, it was logical and he'd seen it done many times in packs of youkai. But Kagome's family wasn't youkai and they didn't 'eliminate' the weak or the old man who was always trying to kill him with spells and charms would have been dead already.   
So he watched, ready to jump in at a moments notice.  
Kagome was on her feet now, panting for breath and the other girl was about to hit her again when Kagome held up a hand in a symbol of defeat.  
"Oh no you don't! If you're not gonna fight, get back down on the ground, where you belong, Wuss!" the other girl snarled, before sweeping Kagome's feet out from under her again.  
It felt like his heart was shattering seeing Kagome like this, but he knew that if he interfered he might get 'sat' and yelled at again, just like before she left.  
She didn't deserve to be beaten on like this. He growled and cursed at himself for being so stupid to let her leave the way she did.  
Kagome lay there again, breathing hard, her eyes shut tightly against everything.  
"Get up and fight!" the girl growled and kicked Kagome's prone foot. "You're pathetic! Sulking over a pathetic excuse for a man. Feh! I bet he's just as much of a wuss as the dope Hojo you hang out with so much."   
Inu-Yasha felt his temper flare again, but fought back a small smile of triumph as Kagome slowly opened her eyes to glare up at her beater.  
"You don't..." she grunted as she pushed herself to her knees, "have any idea of what you're saying! Inu-Yasha is the greatest guy ever to walk this Earth."   
"Feh!" the girl above her snorted.  
Kagome stood up and surprised even Inu-Yasha in his position in the tree. She delivered a brain jarring punch to the unprepared girl that had been kicking her ass a moment ago. The girl stumbled back and Inu-Yasha saw her smile as she caught her balance.  
"Oh, so that's how you wanna do it, eh? You're 'Inu-Yasha' is nothing but a pansy!" the girl taunted.  
Inu-Yasha blushed hearing these words but decided it was best left to Kagome to deal with it. Kagome threw another punch, the girl anticipated it and brought her arms up to block.  
"He is not! He's courageous...brave...He can be rude sometimes but..." Kagome started.  
"Someone else's." the girl shot back. "Kikyo, was her name wasn't it? The girl who got him first."   
Inu-Yasha felt like his heart was being wrung out and thrown on a fire. This was what it was all about, Kagome was upset about him and Kikyo and someone had decided to make her prey because of it. He suddenly felt sick to his stomach with guilt.  
"RGH!" Kagome snarled and threw another punch and another until she was going so fast he could just barely keep up with her.  
The girl just smiled and blocked all of the blows, "That's it Kagome! Kick the shit out of me!"   
He was stunned about just how arrogant the other girl was behaving. Who was this lousy bitch? And why the hell was she preying on Kagome like this? She wasnt' a youkai, there was no way she could be a youkai.  
"I....I HATE Kikyo!" Kagome shouted.  
Inu-Yasha felt his eyes widen at her announcement and saw Kagome stop and her shoulders tremble.  
"I'm NOT her!" Kagome said shakily.  
Inu-Yasha felt his heart ripped in two as he saw her sink to her knees, trembling. The girl didn't go to hit Kagome again, and for that he was glad. She seemed to know that she shouldn't kick a person when they're down. She sat down beside Kagome, and he more than just glimpsed sweat on both persons as they panted, trying to catch their breath.  
"I know that, and you know that, and he knows that too. I'm sure. But you can't keep letting things like this fester inside you Kagome-chan. It's not healthy." the other girl said.  
"It didn't help that you kept insulting me, Roku-chan." Kagome said as she rested her head on her knees.  
"I was trying to get you mad enough so you'd actually find a vent in hitting me." the girl she'd called Roku-chan answered.  
"Rokugatsu, how the hell do you keep your temper in check?" Kagome asked.  
A girl named after the sixth month. How original. Inu-Yasha thought. Though it did suit the dark haired girl dressed in blue and gold. She was apparently Kagome's friend, though it didn't register why they were beating each other like that.   
"I find a vent. If you bottle stuff like that up, you wind up with an ulcer, gray hair and wrinkles." Roku smiled and threw herself back on the mat and spread her arms out.   
"That's just an old wive's tale." Kagome said wrinkling her nose.  
"Nuh uh. You look at all the research their doing. That's why you see people in their forties walking around looking as if they were ninety. I'm telling you Kagome-chan, if you keep worrying over everything like you do, you'll look like a zombie before you're even thirty!" Roku said, pulling down on the skin of her face for emphasis.  
Inu-Yasha shuddered, she'd be like Kikyo if she bottled things up was more like it. He had noticed she wasn't smiling nearly as much when she left.  
"I've got to admit. Hitting somethind certainly does make me feel better." Kagome sighed, dropping down on the map beside Roku.  
"See, not just guys have to get their 'ya-ya's out. We girls are allowed to be violent once in a while." Roku winked, "I bet if you practiced and came to the meets, you could be a great woman boxer."  
"Nah. I'd break a nail." Kagome giggled and smiled wearily as she stared up at the sky, her face went solemn again, "You didn't really mean all that stuff about Inu-Yasha did you?"  
"Why?"  
"Cause then I'll really have to kick the shit out of you." Kagome answered coolly.  
"Of course I didn't Kagome-chan. I haven't even met the guy. You can't judge a book by a description....well, maybe you can, but anyways, that's beyond the point. I wouldn't judge him until I at least got to know him a little bit." Roku said, "Just how shallow do you think I am, Kagome?"  
"Not at all Roku-chan, not at all."  
" 'Sides, he's gotta be a great guy if you like him. I mean, I might just have to take a peek at him and steal him for myself." Roku taunted.  
Kagome punched her friend in the gut and Roku choked out a laugh.  
"Gomen! I was kidding!"  
"Hai, you were kidding!" Kagome snarled.  
The two girls stayed there for a moment in silence and Inu-Yasha was wondering just how long this girl, Roku was going to hang around Kagome. He wanted...no, needed to talk to her.  
"You wanna take a shower?" Kagome asked.  
"Hell yeah."  
"It's upstairs, second door on the left. Ask Mum where the towels are."  
"You gonna come inside?"   
"I think I'll stay out here for a little while longer." Kagome answered.  
Roku gave her a warning glare.  
"I'm not gonna sulk. I would never sulk with you around." Kagome said.  
"Good. But you better hurry up. I want pizza and buffalo wings, they're my treat since you guys have been nice enough to let me stay the night." Roku warned before pulling herself off the mat and running inside.  
He dropped out of the tree and soundlessly crept up on Kagome, who had turned to let her head dangle over one of the stairs leading from the temple to the street and she stared down at the people who wandered by, looking like little dolls.  
"Kagome--?" Inu-Yasha said softly.  
He leaned over her to catch her gaze as she jerked her head up. She coughed and then pulled her mouthpiece out of her mouth.  
"Inu-Yasha!" she cried, "How long have you been here?"  
"Long enough....What's that for?" he gestured to the mouth guard.  
"To make sure I don't get my teeth knocked down my throat....You saw me fighting?" she asked shyly.  
"Yes...Kagome...I..." he started.  
She smiled slightly, "You heard everything I said then."   
"I saw everything...I wasn't sure what was going on, but when I saw she was beating you up....I wanted to jump in and help you, but then I heard..."  
"You heard her insulting me and you and Kikyo. I'm sorry if it was confusing."  
She sat up, and paused, blushing as she realized just how close he really was to her.  
"Nothing to apologize for." he said, "I just wish you'd speak up for yourself a little more. Maybe she would have eased up on you a bit."  
"You mean Roku? She doesn't know the meaning of the word. She loves fighting, and I'm starting to see why you do too." Kagome explained, "I met her downtown when I was getting a coffee. She saw how....depressed I was and decided that she'd try to cheer me up. I told her some of what's going on, in a heavily editted version, and she said I should try boxing. She's really a good person."  
"I noticed that." he said, "When she wasn't kicking your ass, I mean."  
"She was not! I had everything under control." Kagome said indignantly.  
"..."  
An odd look crossed his face and she blushed, "Okay, so maybe I didn't. I'm a healer not a fighter."  
"I noticed that too. And I've also noticed..." he leaned closer to her, their faces were nearly touching and Kagome couldn't supress a blush when she felt his breath on her lips, "that you're Kagome....not Kikyo."  
He closed the distance between their mouths and she couldn't say that she was surprised in the least, and she immediately melted into it. Finally she gave up propping herself up on her elbows, and wrapped her arms around his neck, feeling him collapse ontop of her with his mouth sealed over hers and she smiled into his kiss.  
"Ashiteru Inu-Yasha." she said licking his swollen lower lip.  
"Ashiteru, Kagome." he purred and kissed her again.  
Unknown to both of them Rokugatsu stood, holding Sota up so he could see as well, watching them out of Kagome's bedroom window.  
"Eww. They're kissing?! Gross!" Sota grumbled.  
"You'll change your mind in a few years, kiddo." Roku grinned.  
They parted for breath and he got onto his knees, pulling her up to kneel in front of him as well.  
"Obviously...I can't stay." he said breathing hard against her mouth.  
"Mm...I know..." Kagome said almost sadly.   
"Kagome...you know I'm always there if you need to talk...even if it hurts, I think it's better to know the truth." Inu-Yasha explained as he pulled her into a tight embrace.  
"Arigatou...and ashiteru."  
"I'd better go..." he said.  
His ears twitched in the direction of the house, hearing Mrs.Higurashi coming out to sweep the steps.   
"I'll come to the Sengoku Jidai tomorrow, as soon as Roku-chan leaves." Kagome said, squeezing him briefly.  
He inhaled her scent and then let her go, "I'll be waiting for you."   
She nodded and watched him bound back to the Bone Eater's Well then stood up, brushed herself off and walked into the house, careful to smooth her mussed hair and touched a hand to her lips wruly as she did so.  
  
******  
  
A/N: I know how out of character both of the character's are and gomen nasai for it, but I seriously think if I was in Kagome's place I'd want to kick the crap out of anything that moved, at least once in a while, I also thought it was high time that Inu-Yasha be a little bitty bit romantic for once. Every time I see a cute little scene between them I get all tingly and wish that guys now weren't so....well non-chivalrous. I love a romantic knight in shining armor. If only I could find one around here....**sigh** Life bites for the high dreamers. 


End file.
